I’ll be adding all you bloggers to that one over the next few days, too. Stop yelling at me.

Having had the opportunity to eat some of kittee’s eats in Portland over the summer, I am sure these are wonderful. And if you’ve never made pretzels before, what a perfect time to try something new. You boil the dough before baking, the whole time thinking, “This will never work.” But then it always works and you feel better than everyone else.

Speaking of being better than everyone else, I’ll post that pumpkin brownie recipe tomorrow. I’ve been really lazy. I mean busy. Blazy?

I’ll distract you with a shot of kittee with a chapati bikini. And don’t forget, kittee is now the food editor of Herbivore magazine. A new issue came out today so subscribe, get some wonderful recipes, read some enlightening articles and interviews, and support independent vegan media. Or I will make you feel really guilty.

Last night I made these Pumpkin Pie Brownies. It’s a brownie base with pumpkin in the batter and then pumpkin pie filling is poured on top and they bake together in perfect harmony. Obviously, these would be like gold at any Halloween event.

Recipe has been added, just click “more.”

Note: A 15 or 16 ounce can of pumpkin will equal the 2 cups of pumpkin needed for this recipe.

Ingredients:

For the brownie layer

4 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted

1 cup canned or pureed pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder

1 tablespoon tapioca flour (or arrowroot or corn starch)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the pumpkin pie layer

1 cup canned or pureed pumpkin

2 tablespoons tapioca flour (or use arrowroot or cornstarch)

1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used soy)

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch ground nutmeg

pinch ground allspice

To decorate:

A handful of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 inch springform pan, or use a 9 inch square pan, preferably lined with parchment paper.

To make the brownie layer:

Melt the chocolate (I still don’t need to tell you how to melt chocolate, right?).

In a large mixing bowl mix together pumpkin, sugar, oil and vanilla. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, tapioca, baking soda and salt and stir to combine, then mix in the melted chocolate.

To make the pumpkin layer:

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir until thoroughly combined.

To assemble:

Use a spatula to spread the brownie layer into the prepared baking pan, taking care to bring the batter to the edges of the pan. Pour the pumpkin layer over it, leaving a little room at the edges if you can. Bake for 30 minutes, until the pumpkin layer looks fairly firm (a little jiggling is okay) and has cracked at the edges a bit.

Let cool for 20 minutes and then transfer to the fridge to set for at least an hour and a half. Once set, decorate with chocolate chips and serve.

Chocolate Stout cupcake with kitten, from tramotana

A portly dog desires a vegan cupcakes, from heatherrrrrrr

Baby’s first cupcake, from cheapandplastic

Animal ButterCream, cupcakes from JSnow

Okay, that last one is kind of playing fast and loose with the rules of animal, but still.

The PPK messages boards were clamouring for a version of these and what the PPK message board wants, the PPK message board gets. They taste pretty much as I remember them, although I can’t tell you the last time I had one since I am, like, what? A level 11 vegan by now? I didn’t bother coming up with a cutesy name for them, so if anyone can think of one, have at it!

Vegan Milanos
Makes 16 cookies

For those of us who miss suckling at the corporate teat of Pepperidge Farm, here is a veganized version of everyone’s favorite chocolate sandwich cookie. Even though there is a bit of orange zest in the batter, these aren’t orange flavored, the zest just kind of pulls everything together and gives a sunny note of somethin’ somethin’. I think bittersweet chocolate will give the most authentic flavor, but use semi-sweet if that’s what you got. And heed the directions to flour your hands before forming each cookie – otherwise the dough will stick.

1/3 cup rice milk (or soy, whatever you got)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Scant 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (or use chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 large cookie sheets.

In a large mixing bowl, use a strong fork to mix together milk, sugar, oil, vanilla and zest.

Add half of the flour, along with the cornstarch, baking powder and salt; mix well. Add the remaining flour and mix until you have a soft, pliable dough.

Make sure your hands are very clean and dry, and dust them with flour. Stuffs about to get messy. Sort of.

Grab about 1 tablespoon’s worth of dough and roll it into a ball, and then roll into a log that’s about 1 1/2 inches long. Flatten with the palms of your hand to create an oval that is 2 inches long and 1 inch across, then straighten the edges out with your fingers. Basically, if you know what a milano looks like, that’s the shape your going for. But this is homemade, so don’t try to be perfect. You aren’t a machine (or are you?)

Continue with the rest of the dough, flouring your hands before you form each cookie, until you have 16 cookies placed about 1 inch apart (they don’t spread much.) I had to do this in 2 batches because of my small oven, so while these baked I started my next batch of 16. If you’ve got a big oven then do both trays of 16 at once.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until tops are firm and edges are ever so slightly browned. Remove from oven and let rest for 2 minutes. Use a thin, flexible spatula to transfer to a cooling rack. Meanwhile, bake your next batch and melt your chocolate*.

Once cookies are cool enough to handle (only about 10 minutes), take a cookie and dip the bottom into the chocolate. Then take another cookie and dip it, and place the dipped sides together to form a sandwich. Don’t press them hard lest the chocolate smush out. Place them on a tray or several plates that will fit in your fridge. Continue with the remaining cookies until you have 16 sandwiches. Have a wet rag at the ready to wipe your fingers between putting the cookies together, to avoid chocolate fingerprints on the cookies. Or just lick the chocolate off. Or just decide that who cares about chocolate fingerprints.

Place cookies in the fridge to set for at least an hour. Bring back to room temperature before serving (about 1/2 an hour.) Call it a day.

*You know how to melt chocolate, right?

And now that I’ve seen Franny’s 23rd birthday cake, I have to agree.

She’s actually got blueprints! Start here to see how it all came together.

It’s also been in the 70s here in Brooklyn, which is perfect baking weather and, of course, rare for August.  But instead of posting pictures of what I’ve been baking I will just post a picture of me in my new apron, and the 20 pounds I’ve gained from baking. That oughta do it.

What I am saying is, please vote for me for favorite cookbook author in the VegNews Veggie Awards. On my livejournal I threatened to cry if I don’t win. But here I will take a different route and threaten violence. I need to work all angles. Vote for me or I swear to Fizzle I will kick your computer screen in from the inside.